Use of Copyrighted Music on College and University Campuses 10
Level FTE Students 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
1 <1,000 $319 $325 $332 $339 $345
2 1,000–4,999 $369 $376 $384 $392 $399
3 5,000–9,999 $505 $515 $525 $535 $546
4 10,000–19,999 $655 $668 $681 $695 $708
5 20,000+ $882 $838 $855 $872 $890
Colleges and universities covered by these rules must comply with a request from ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC
to submit a music-use report covering one week per calendar year. Each organization may request this report
from no more than 10 stations in a calendar year, however.
Sound Recording Performances: Streaming
Historically, there has been no performance right in sound recordings. For example, if a disc jockey were to
play Johnny Cash’s cover of the Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt” at a campus event, the university would not
need a license from Cash’s estate and/or his record label. But the composer of the song (Trent Reznor) licens-
es the performance via the university’s blanket ASCAP license.
There are certain exceptions, however. The Digital Performance in Sound Recordings Act of 1995 and the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 granted a performance right in sound recordings in some kinds of
digital media. As a result, copyright law now requires that certain users of music pay the copyright owner of
the sound recording for the public performance of that music via certain digital transmissions, including sat-
ellite radio, non-interactive Internet radio, cable TV music channels, and similar platforms. SoundExchange
(www.soundexchange.com), a nonprofit performing rights organization, is responsible for collecting and
distributing these royalties on behalf of recording artists, master rights owners, and independent artists.
Grand Rights
The performing rights organizations (BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC) do not cover “grand rights”—the right to per-
form music as part of dramatic performances. Examples of dramatic musical works covered by grand rights
include operas, operettas, musical plays, and ballets. Concert versions of dramatic musical works also re-
quire grand rights, as they are not covered in the agreements oered by the performing rights organizations.
The point at which a piece becomes a dramatic musical work is not always perfectly clear; advice should be
sought if a question arises.
Grand rights are generally negotiated individually with the copyright owner, usually the publisher or writ-
er(s). The following agencies represent some copyright owners for negotiation and licensing of grand rights:
Tams-Witmark Music Library, Inc. (www.tamswitmark.com);
Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization (www.rnh.com);
Music Theatre International (www.mtishows.com); and
Samuel French, Inc. (www.samuelfrench.com).
Mechanical Rights
The copyright owner has the exclusive right to make copies of, or to reproduce mechanically, nondramatic
musical works for distribution. These rights are known as “mechanical rights.” However, under § 115 of the
Copyright Act, once a copyright owner has made recordings and distributed them to the public, or authorized
someone else to do so, he or she must grant mechanical rights licenses to anyone else who wants to make a
new recording and distribute it to the public. This type of license does not confer the right to make record-
ings of a particular performance or sound recording of a musical composition copyrighted by someone else.